Disclaimer: Sorry to disappoint, but don't own nothing!

A/N: This is a continuation from a standalone I wrote called Jondy the Abandoner. Now I've decided that I could turn it into a pretty kick ass series and so… yeah I wrote this. You don't need to read that to get this, but it might be fun anyway, right? And then you could review it and make me feel all good. (Now you realize that I'm in the habit of shameless plugs.) Also, this is the second version of this fic to be posted. There are now fewer typos, and the dates are more cannon! Yay!

Jondy the Abandoner: A New Life

Chapter One: Happy Birthday Kid

March 5, 2014

Fourteen-year-old Jondy sat on the bed in the backroom of the motel room where she lived flipping channels. There were only six channels to flip through, and nothing was on. Jondy had gone through all of them at least twenty times. Suddenly a loud bang was heard as the front door slammed open.

The baby squirmed in Jondy's arms at the loud noise. Zack was here.

Jondy set the infant down in the drawer she had turned into a cradle and went out to greet her brother. She felt extremely nauseated all of a sudden. Zack was going to be so pissed.

so

February 28, 2017

Eloise Strat opened her eyes and sat up in bed. Her shirt was damp with sweat already, and she had woken up before the dream had even gotten to the bad part. But Eloise didn't need her subconscious to replay the memory for her. Unwillingly she let herself remember.

A sharp cry ran out through the small living space. "What was that?" Zack asked, staring intensely at Jondy.

Jondy's stomach back flipped and she stuttered out, "I- I think the neighbor's kid-" She was cut off by Zack pushing past her and opening the door to the bedroom; the light causing the baby to scream again.

"Jondy, what the hell?" Zack yelled, and without thinking he backhanded her so hard she fell to the floor. Sobbing, and rubbing her hand over her throbbing cheek, Zack towered over her. "What the hell are you thinking?"

the hell

"I didn't want to kill her," Jondy whimpered. "And you can't make me." Zack continued to glare down at his sister, dozens of threats and insults running through his mind when she strongly voiced, "She's mine."

And that she was. Aldrea was all hers. Zack had been so angry with Jondy that he'd left without saying another word.

That was all almost three years ago. Aldrea had been just three days old, and she hadn't even been named Aldrea yet. Now it was just two days before her third birthday. Zack was coming to see her and celebrate.

Zack cared for Aldrea more than he would ever let on. Three months after he had ditched Aldrea and his sister, he came back with an apology. Aldrea wasn't like Case he had decided, who had been expected and wanted, but Aldrea was a mistake that never would have happened if Jondy's DNA hadn't been so fucked up.

"You can't stay here anymore Jondy," Zack said forcefully. "You need to take the baby and leave. And I've set up a new alias for you." Zack handed Jondy a drivers' license that identified her as Eloise Strat and said she was seventeen. Jondy was only fourteen at the time, but post pulse cops wouldn't question it. He also handed her an envelope full of money. Reluctantly Jondy accepted.

By now Jondy had fully become Eloise. She even thought of herself as Eloise Strat, AKA- Mommy. It had been three years and she couldn't change aliases again, because she didn't want to tell Aldrea what she was yet.

Eloise tossed and turned in her bed, trying to get back to sleep, but the blankets only got tangled in her legs. It was a lost cause anyway. Once she was awake, there was no way she would sleep again any time soon, so she decided to go out for a run.

It was 3:30 in the morning, so Eloise had about two hours before Aldrea woke up and she would have to be home. Aldrea was like her mom, and didn't sleep much.

Eloise didn't run on the road because she thought it was boring. Besides, it wasn't much of a road anyway, so there was no point. Eloise's strait, long hair trailed behind her as she ran, and she felt like smacking herself for not grabbing a hair binder. Her hair was very long, reaching almost to her waist, and jet black.

Her natural hair color was actually brown. Not just brown, but the brownest of browns. Slightly darker than Aldrea's hair, which was that indistinguishable color between brown and blonde. Eloise had been dying her hair black since she had been calling herself Aldrea, and the sharp contrast her hair had with her startlingly blue eyes was amazing.

They lived in the middle of nowhere in New Mexico, in a three room shack that doubled as a house. They'd lived there since Aldrea was a baby. Zack had been pestering Eloise to relocate for a year now. Eloise really didn't want to, which was why she was dreading Zack's arrival, and probably why she'd had that dream again.

Zack had been helping Krit with all his silly problems, when he remembered what day it was. Aldrea's birthday was soon, and he didn't even have a present yet. Sure, Krit was having a bad time with seizures and he was going to try to help Zack find Max (Zack had been trying to find Max ever since he had told Jondy she was dead), but Zack considered visiting Aldrea to be very important. Eloise, as Zack was now accustomed to thinking of his sister, was right; Aldrea had beautiful eyes.

They were huge like Jondy's, but not blue. Whoever Aldrea's father was, he had brown eyes, because Aldrea's were brown also. But they were definitely not her father's eyes. They had the same glimmer in them that Jondy and Max always had, and since they were brown, Aldrea looked a lot like Maxie. That's why Aldrea's middle name was Maxine.

It was late morning when Eloise heard a motorcycle pull up outside, and a minute later Zack walked inside carrying a lumpy present, wrapped in bright purple paper.

"Knock, knock," Zack announced and Aldrea ran over to him and tried to leap into his arms.

"Slow down Ally!" Zack chuckled, picking the toddler up. "Did you help your mom turn the house into an emaculate child raising center?"

"Huh?"

"Did you clean?"

"No way!" said Aldrea wrinkling her nose. "I want to play hide and seek!"

"Maybe later," Zack said putting her down, and setting the gift on the kitchen table.

Eloise entered the kitchen then. "How long are you staying?"

"Oh, Eloise how I've missed you too!" teased Zack. Eloise looked at him carefully keeping her face expressionless. Zack continued making fun of her. "And all this cleaning… A pitiful attempt at getting me not to yell at you," he shook his head in mock disappointment.

Eloise folded her arms across her chest and asked again, "How long are you staying?"

"Really only as long as you are," Zack replied. "Three years is too long. Time to do the pick up and leave thing."

"Yeah Zack, 'cuz we're really in the middle of Dangerville, USA so long as we live here… Where we don't have any neighbors!"

"Mommy? You and Zack fighting?" asked Aldrea.

"No, but you go back and play."

Aldrea pouted, but went back to the bedroom like she was told.

"Eloise," Zack started, "I know that you're not in any danger, but it's not a good idea to get too comfortable. You know that."

"I know. But what about Aldrea?"

"She can go with you," Zack felt his sister was just being annoying now.

Punching Zack playfully in the shoulder she said, "You know that's not what I meant."

"I really don't see your point. So you and Ally move. Big deal, kids move all the time."

"Don't call her 'Ally' Zack. It's stupid."

"It's cute."

Eloise snorted trying not to laugh at her brother saying something was cute. The words 'cute and 'Zack' don't belong in the same time zone, let alone the same sentence. "It's not. Besides, her name is Aldrea. The 'A' sound is different than in 'Ally'." Eloise said the name 'Ally' as if it were something that belonged in a sewer.

"Ally is still cute," Zack insisted.

Eloise shook her head; "There is nothing stupider."

"Fine, Ally can be stupid if you two move," Zack bargained.

Eloise weighed these options for a moment, "Okay fine!" she snapped.

March 2nd, 2017; Aldrea's birthday

Zack crept through the tiny living room, listening to the sounds of Aldrea's breathing. He knew she was hiding completely out of sight, under an end table wedged between the couch and a wall, but he led her on a bit. Knowing that Aldrea was watching him, Zack looked under a couch cushion and made a show of slapping his hand to his forehead. "I'm never gonna find her!" he wailed.

Aldrea giggled from under the table, but struggled to keep quiet. Suddenly Zack's face filled her entire field of vision and she screamed absolutely delighted and fell back, kicking Zack in the nose. Zack grabbed the foot that had just bopped him one, and pulled Aldrea from under the table while she squirmed.

"Found you," Zack said smugly. "I had to look everywhere!"

"I can't fit in da cushion Zack!" proclaimed Aldrea laughing.

"Ah, you are getting too good at this game for me."

"Don' worry Zack. You were neber vewy good."

"Hey!" yelled Zack, and he grabbed Aldrea and stood up, holding her upside down by her ankles.

"Ahhh!" Aldrea let out a high pitched scream. She dangled her arms down over her head, trying to reach the floor. "Swing me Zack!" she yelled. "All 'round in a circley!"

"There isn't enough room in here. You'll hit something," said Zack, but there was enough room that he could swing her back and forth, so he did.

Aldrea shrieked with excitement and her shirt fell down and covered her face. "I can't see! I can't see!" she began to yell laughing so hard her belly started to hurt. Then Zack pretended like he was going to drop her.

Aldrea's blood curdling scream echoed throughout the tiny house. That was it! Eloise snapped her book shut, and stormed out of the bedroom. "Will you two be quiet?" she raged. "Not all of us are hoping to lose their hearing you know."

Zack was now holding Aldrea right side up, and the blood was rushing back out of her flushed and smiling face. "Come on Eloise. I bet you are the most boring mom in existence. It's her birthday!"

"Zack saying that I'm boring? Now we've heard everything, haven't we Aldrea?"

"Zack's not borwing," said Aldrea, and Zack looked at his sister smugly.

---

"-Happy birthday to Aldrea, happy birthday to you!" Eloise and Zack sang, and Aldrea leapt up on the table to have better access to her cake. She blew out all three candles easily.

"Aldrea get down now," her mom demanded. "Let Zack take the candles out."

Eloise was holding a large knife that she intended to cut the cake with, so most people would have been at least a little intimidated. Aldrea reached over and plucked one of the candles from the cake, and licked the frosting off the bottom.

"Aldrea!" said Eloise exasperated. Putting the knife down, she grabbed Aldrea around the middle, lifting the defiant three-year-old off the table.

Predictably Aldrea kicked and screamed at her mother to, "Let me go you Big Bad Mom!" Eloise did, while Zack went to work cutting the cake into three huge pieces. Eloise expected Aldrea to leap out of her chair and up on the table again, but she didn't. She just sat there, apparently too upset to do anything else.

"Zack, we don't need to eat pieces that big, we just had dinner," Eloise reprimanded.

"Well I'm still hungry. You aren't a very good cook. It's a good thing this cake is store brought."

"Shut up. If I were really such a terrible cook you wouldn't have eaten everything. C'mon Zack, is that supposed to be for Aldrea? It's bigger than her head!"

Suddenly Aldrea's chair fell over with a loud thud.

"Oh!" screamed Eloise. "Zack she's seizing!"

Tears streamed over Aldrea's tiny face. "M-m-mom? Wh-what?" She couldn't finish whatever she was trying to say. Sprawled out across the dingy linoleum, her small body continued to convulse.

Eloise rushed to her side and tried to comfort her daughter, sitting on the floor she rocked her spasming form. "M-mom?" Aldrea asked again, searching for an explanation to what was happening. Eloise rubbed her daughter's back as if trying to keep her still.

"Eloise, don't you have any tryptophan?" Zack asked urgently, coming to his sister's side.

"No, I haven't had a seizure since I was ten. And I've only ever had two," her voice was very panicky. "Aldrea's never had a seizure Zack!"

Zack didn't know what to do. He'd given the last of his tryptophan to Krit a few days ago, so he didn't have any either.

TBC…

Please review. (SK shamelessly begs for appreciation).